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Indian markets edged higher on Friday to end Samvat 2079 with double-digit gains. On Sunday, markets ushered in Samvat 2080 with solid gains as the benchmark indices clocked their second-best Muhurat trading gains in five years. Today, indices are likely to make flat-to-positive start ahead of the retail inflation data. There are expectations that retail inflation to have cooled to a four-month low in October following moderation in volatile food prices. Traders will be taking encouragement as the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said gross direct tax collection increased by 17.59 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 12.37 trillion in the period from April 1 to November 9. Direct tax collection (net of refunds) stood at Rs 10.6 trillion, 21.82 per cent higher than the net collection for the comparable period last year. Refunds amounting to Rs 1.77 trillion have been issued during the period. However, some cautiousness may come with a private report that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) selling spree continued as they dumped Indian equity worth over Rs 5,800 crore this month so far on rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. This came after such investors withdrew Rs 24,548 crore in October and Rs 14,767 crore in September, data with the depositories showed. Traders may be concerned as the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed that growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) cooled to a three-month low of 5.8 per cent in September from 10.3 per cent in August, on the back of moderation across all sub-sectors and use-based categories. Besides, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said India’s economy is showing signs of steady growth but needs to expand at a pace of over 8 percent to create enough jobs for the world’s most populous nation. There will be some reaction in port sector stocks as Central government-owned ports, which are major ports and had been showing slow growth this financial year, saw a turnaround in October. The provisional data by the Indian Ports Association showed that there was 13 per cent growth in cargo and the ports handled 70 million tonnes (mt) of goods. Meanwhile, Protean eGov Tech will make its market debut today. The issue price is fixed at Rs 792.

The US markets ended higher on Friday after Moody’s Investors Service lowered its U.S. credit rating outlook to negative from stable. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday ahead of US President Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping's in-person meeting this week.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks remained volatile for yet another session and ended marginally higher on Friday led by gains in Utilities and Power stocks, even as hawkish US Federal Reserve remarks reignited rate worries and dragged Asian peers. Markets made a negative start and stayed in red for better part of the day as persistent foreign fund outflows dented sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,712.33 crore on November 9. Traders remained cautious with the RBI governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that retail inflation remains vulnerable to recurring and overlapping food price shocks. Investors also remained cautious ahead of the Industrial production data to be out later in the day. However, fag-end buying helped benchmark indices to recoup all the losses and settled higher. Some solace also came with Global rating agency Fitch Ratings’ report stating that Indian banks' Viability Ratings (VR) will continue to benefit from improved operating conditions and performance in the near term. It expects Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to remain stable across banks as they are driven by its expectation of extraordinary support from the Indian sovereign (BBB-/Stable), should there be a need. Traders took a note of SEBI’s whole-time member Ashwani Bhatia’s statement that India's rapid economic growth needs to be accompanied with the transition to a sustainable economy and stressed that financial markets will play a critical role in promoting sustainable finance. He said countries including India, have made a number of important commitments in the last few years to address climate change and moving to sustainable and inclusive economies. The Indian markets were ushered into the new Hindu calendar year -- Samvat 2080 -- on a bullish note on Sunday. After the ceremonial one-hour trading session, the benchmark Sensex and the Nifty closed with gains of over half a per cent. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 354.77 points or 0.55% to 65,259.45 and the CNX Nifty was up by 100.20 points or 0.52% to 19,525.55.

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